By the time high school seniors start filling out their college applications, much of what admissions officers will use to give a thumbs up or down is set, so how much does the dreaded essay really matter?

Eli Manning won a Super Bowl, got married, visited the White House, golfed at St. Andrews and then returned to south Louisiana this week to take part in the same football camp his family has hosted for 13 years.

For as long as there have been athletes, and Olympic trials, and cameras, and parents, there have been priceless images of Mom and Dad screaming, wincing, hiding, crying and nearly dying watching their child try to make an Olympic team. It's worst of all in swimming.

Walking the dog the other night, I came upon two little girls who were playing on the sidewalk in front of their house. Both were holding Hula-Hoops. I decided to play dumb. "What are those?" I asked. "Hula-Hoops!" they replied in unison, looking at me as if I were not only dumb but worse. Old and out of it.

Four-year-old Reilly Templeton of Katy, Texas, slaps her hands together atop her head and, holding them flat to make what looks like a tiny shark fin, she tilts her head to the left and to the right and unleashes a toothy smile.

The brutal real estate slump has made real estate agents so hungry for business that many have decided to go after a group not known for its home-buying habits: Twentysomethings. And to try to connect with them, agents are unleashing a new breed of marketing tactics, from posting homes for sale on YouTube to building snazzy Facebook pages.